Valley Solutions

City manager merry-go-rounds

Turlock Journal. Council to consider hiring new city manager. 
Synopsis: Reporters Kristinia Hacker and Joe Cortez went well beyond the press release from the city to learn a little more about John J. Murphy, the man chosen to become Turlock’s 13^th city manager since 2009. They found a story from the West Morris (NJ) Reporter that described the hiring of John J. “JJ” Murphy to manage the Roxbury Township, N.J. in November 2025. Murphy, then 54, an Air Force veteran who worked in Palmdale until a falling-out with the city council following complaints to the council from city staff. He was fired on a 5-0 vote but later sued and settled for $2.2 million. The city later paid three employees $5.2 million who said they felt threatened by Murphy, who they said regularly brought a gun to work. The city’s press release refers to “Dr. Murphy,” but his resume shows a master’s degree in public administration.

Merced County Times. Atwater city manager resigns after two years on job.
Synopsis: As of June 25, Chris Hoem will no longer be Atwater city manager. His resignation follows that of police chief Richard McEachin and finance director Anna Nicholas, who left the city within the last two months. The city council reviewed Hoem’s job performance in a closed meeting June 8 then put him on administrative leave two days later. City clerk Janell Martin will take over as interim city manager.

Orange Crush comes in a melon

Fresno Bee. Cornucopia of watermelons awaits just outside Fresno; nine varieties and counting. 
Synopsis: Reporter Robert Rodriguez writes about Dicky Don Watermelons on McCall Avenue near Ashlan. Operated by the Allen family, whose patriarch is Richard (aka, Dicky), they specialize in hybrid and huge melons. One customer recently posted an image of his 20-pounder. The top seller is the Cracker Jack followed by the Black Jack, which has a dark green, almost black, rind. The Orange Crush is juicy but mild and has vibrant orange flesh. Robert Allen says the fun of farming is experimenting with different types of melons, like the one he calls Starship. “It looks like someone threw yellow paint on it.”

Moving another train station?

Fresno Bee. High-Speed Rail wants ‘temporary’ non-downtown Bakersfield station. 
Synopsis: The CA High-Speed Rail Authority is trying to convince the city of Bakersfield to let it build a temporary station outside of downtown instead of the long-planned permanent station. It’s the same argument the CRSHA has been making in Merced, where residents have the same question: “Why change?” CEO Ian Choudri claims building a station outside of town will save his agency lots of money. He is proposing a station 5 miles northwest of the city but says a “permanent” station will still be built near F Street and Golden State Avenue … someday. Meanwhile, Choudri’s working with private investors who he says will expand the system beyond the Valley once the first stations are up and running.
MAD Take: Forgive me if this sounds suspiciously like bait-and-switch. But the reasoning is, uh, suspicious. The Chronicle reported last week that Choudri’s private backers are likely to include builders of Silicon Valley data centers who will piggyback on the Authority’s electricity infrastructure to fill the rail corridors with data centers staffed with workers ferried back and forth from the Bay Area to Merced and Fresno aboard the bullet train. In Merced, Choudri insisted his agency will “save” $1 billion by building a station outside of town. He never explains how anyone can “save” $1 billion by simply relocating a project scheduled to cost less than $75 million.

Modesto Bee. Modesto Amtrak station plans open house; we’re talking free tacos, low-cost travel. 
Synopsis: There will be an open-house celebration at the Amtrak station from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday on the east end of Briggsmore Avenue. G’z Tacos 209 and Heaven Snow shaved ice will be at the station along with the Modesto Chamber of Commerce. They will be welcoming the Gold Runner, which runs from Sacramento to Bakersfield with stops in Stockton, Denair, Merced, Madera, Fresno and beyond.

Data centers guzzle power

Fresno Bee. Data centers are stewing in their own pollution. 
Synopsis: Columnist Mark Gongloff of Bloomberg Opinion writes about the 3,000 planned data centers around the world and their incredible “thirst for energy.” Of those, 6% are being considered for “high risk” locations. They will be uninsurable without hardening against fire, flood, and high winds. Regardless, those data centers are going to be built somewhere. The largest will consume enough power to have supplied 2 million households each year. “Run-of-the-mill” data centers will consume the same power as 100,000 households every year. Using fossil fuels to power all those computers will increase emissions by 28% by 2030; using solar panels could avoid some of that catastrophe. So, the sunnier the better for building data centers.

Chowchilla’s smelly dilemma

Merced Focus. Dead fish, deteriorating lakes pit HOA against water council in upscale Chowchilla locale.
Synopsis: Lots of dead fish, shrinking lakes, and angry words are making a mess of the Greenhills Estates in Chowchilla. The argument has moved to the Madera County courthouse as the homeowners association is suing the Water Resource Council and others over how water is supplied. The WRC says Greenhills has not paid its share of for maintenance of a well; the HOA disagrees, saying it was saddled with 70% of the costs – which isn’t fair. Now the lake stinks, fish are dying and 905 homeowners are angry. They want the clean lakes, functioning fountains and green golf course they were promised. On one side, lawyers insist this a simple breach-of-contract claim. On the other, they insist “This is not a simple contract-fee spat.” A judge will have to decide.

Listening to water complaints

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus County residents say they can’t access safe water; met with regulators.
Synopsis: Residents of the Riverview Mobile Home Estates east of Hughson met with state regulators to talk about nitrate and uranium contamination of their well water across Stanislaus County. The meeting was hosted by The Bee with participation from Valley Improvement Projects and Valley Water Collaborative. Among those speaking were residents of Monterey Park Tract, which is west of Ceres.

Cities set budget records

Merced County Times. Merced’s leaders OK final budget totaling $461M for 2026-27.
Synopsis: The Merced City Council approved a $461.2 million budget, up from $438.5 million last year. It includes 566 full-time employees and focuses on public safety and fire protection. The city’s general fund will be $67 million, making up a quarter of total revenues. The budget passed 6-1 with Fue Xiong voting no because the budget puts too much emphasis on public safety.

Westside Express. Record Los Banos budget features 10% surplus. 
Synopsis: A record budget of $165 million for the city of 48,000 included 21 new positions, money for road and construction projects and a 10% surplus. The budget will include $4.5 million for a full-scale water filtration system to remove naturally occurring but carcinogenic chromium-six from the city’s drinking water. Among the new positions will be a fire captain, two firefighters, police sergeant and a new assistance city attorney.

Schools want good-food funding

Morning Ag Clips. 450 organizations push Congress to unlock local food funding for schools. 
Synopsis: As the Senate prepares to take up the Farm Bill, around 450 organizations signed a letter demanding Congress improve the National School Lunch Program and help the farmers who supply them at the same time. It notes that 30 million children eat school lunches each day and the USDA provides 20% of the funding for the program. One school official said her rural school is surrounded by farms and cattle, but she can’t work directly with the farmers to get the freshest food to her cafeteria. Others decried regulations that delay shipments of fresh vegetables. The want a portion of the USDA funding sent directly to schools “to spend on local, fresh and minimally processed foods.” Those signing the letter ranged from animal-rights and environmental activists to specific farmers to processors. Dozens of schools, from Hawaii to CA to New York signed the letter, including districts in Riverbank, Delhi, Turlock and Stockton.

Almond crop likely smaller

Ag Net West. CA almond crop may tighten as water challenges continue. 
Synopsis: Ag Net’s interviewers talked to Steve Malanca, a field rep for West Valley Hulling in Firebaugh. He anticipates a smaller crop, just below last year’s 2.7 billion pounds -- probably around 2.5 billion pounds with excellent quality. Groundwater restrictions will reduce the crop in some areas. He says farmers are growing more concerned about the reliability of water deliveries and notes that some processors are already rumored to be offering $3 a pound for nonpareils; that would be the highest price since 2018. However, growers are facing record expenses for fuel, fertilizer and labor.

A plan to rid lake’s algae

DredgeWire. Plans to dredge Stockton’s McLeod Lake in progress as toxic algae blooms flourish.
Synopsis: The water flowing into McLeod Lake from Stockton’s Deepwater Channel turns bright green by mid-summer nearly every year. This year, however, the Dept of Water Resources and Port of Stockton are planning to dredge the channel and reduce the algae seedstock in the mud, reducing the potential for bloom. The program will start with the lake itself.

Deadly weekend on the water

Modesto Bee. Body recovered from river at popular Stanislaus swimming spot.
Synopsis: The body of a swimmer was recovered at Fox Grove east of Hughson on Saturday afternoon. Rescue teams were called out around 4:45 p.m. when three swimmers were having trouble. A person on a personal watercraft rescued two, but the third went under before help could arrive.

Fresno Bee. 20-year-old Fresno man dead after water rescue at San Joaquin River.
Synopsis: Multiple agencies responded to an emergency call saying three people were in distress in the San Joaquin River near Sycamore Island on Saturday. Authorities rescued two, but Vincent Chang, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Stockton considers mask law

The Observer. Stockton council to vote on controversial mask ordinance.
Synopsis: The Stockton city council is considering following in Modesto’s footsteps and banning face coverings at public events and protests. Vice Mayor Jason Lee questioned whether criminals wore coverings while committing crimes. While the police department could not confirm any increase in masked criminals, the city attorney asserted it had increased. The city attorney said the First Amendment would not allow the city to prohibit masks. Many residents want mask bans extended to law enforcement, which the courts have been unwilling to do.

Two once-in-a-lifetime birds

Valley Citizen. Two extremely rare birds fly in for a Valley visit. 
Synopsis: Jim Gain writes about the Scarlet Tanager and Least Tern that both showed up unexpectedly in the Valley recently. (But not together.) The tern is more at home on the coast, but a flock of them was seen near the Lodi White Slough water treatment plant. The tanager is much more at home in the forests of the eastern United States, and seeing one in Stanislaus County was a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, drawing birders from Stockton, Manteca and Merced. “Nature still writes its own surprises.”